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Figure 1. Buffel grass distribution
(Source: Australia's Virtual Herbarium)
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Buffel grass (Cenchrus ciliaris) is native to Africa,
Arabia, the Canary Islands, Madagascar, Indonesia, northern
India and Pakistan. It was introduced into Australias' northwest
in the saddles of Afghan camel trains in the mid to late 1800s.
Nine major cultivars have since been introduced as potential
pasture species. Most originated from Africa, and were subsequently
bred and crossed to create new varieties. Buffel grass is
a highly productive and important pasture species in large
parts of northern Australia, but also causes serious environmental
impacts. It has a broad distribution across Australia (Figure
1).
Background
Buffel is a perennial tutfed tropical grass suited to arid
to semi-arid zones (Figure 2). It is a hardy species resistant
to heavy grazing and the most drought tolerant introduced
grass species. It is highly persistent on lightly textured
soils and is quick to respond to small amounts of rainfall.
It forms monospecific stands (Figure 3), outcompeting native
grasses and can significantly raise the fire regime of an
area to the point of removing competing shrubs and trees.
These features make it both an excellent pasture grass and
a serious environmental weed.
The Project
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Figure 2. Buffel grass
(Source: NSW Dept of Agriculture)
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Buffel is being used as a test case to look at ways of improving
the prediction of potential distribution and impact of weeds
at the landscape scale. Current predictive tools rely heavily
on whether it has been, or is, a weed elsewhere or on using
climate as an indicator of potential introduced distribution.
Current methods focus at the regional level at best, however
land managers require much finer scale predictions to be able
to effectively apply these tools at the property level. This
project will develop a finer scale tool to predict the dispersal
of Buffel across the landscape using a combination of spatial
and mechanistic models.
Key People
Rieks van Klinken
(CSIRO)
CSIRO Entomology
Long Pocket Laboratories
120 Meiers Road
Indooroopilly QLD 4068
AUSTRALIA
Ph: +61 7 3214 2200
Fax: +61 7 3214 2885
Email: fistrname.lastname@csiro.au
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Figure 3. Buffel infestation
(Source: Weeds of the Wet/Dry tropics)
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Shaun Kolomeitz (Weeds CRC)
Ph: +61 8 8303 6590
Fax: +61 8 8303 7311
Email: crcweeds@adelaide.edu.au
Collaborators
CRC for Australian
Weed Management
DBIRD - Department
of Business, Industry & Resource Development (Barbara
Ross)
QNRME - Queensland
Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy (Dane Panetta)
The University of Queensland
(David Pullar)
NTU - Northern Territory
Charles Darwin University
DIPE - Northern
territory Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment
EPA - Environmental
Protection Agency, Queensland (Petra Kuhnert)
More Information
Buffel
grass, Cenchrus ciliaris (NSW Dept. Primary Industries,
Agriculture)
Cenchrus
ciliaris L. (FAO, Food and Agriculture Organisation
of the United Nations)
Introduced
Buffel Grass 'Threat to Biodiversity' (Northern Territory
Government)
Buffel
Grass (Tropical Savannas CRC)
Cenchrus
ciliaris
L. African foxtail, buffelgrass, anjangrass (The Nature
Conservancy, The Invasive Species Initiative)
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